{
  "abstract": "Eye movements have been shown to reveal the cognitive processes underlying spatial ability, but most studies investigating gaze behaviour in spatial cognition use a single, screen-based task. Therefore, it is unknown whether these gaze behaviours are preserved across naturalistic task environments, or whether their relationship with spatial performance is domain-general or task-specific. The present study tested whether established gaze behaviours are preserved and generalizable across diverse, naturalistic spatial tasks. N = 30 young adults completed three naturalistic spatial tasks varying in perceptual, cognitive, and visuomotor demands: Q-bitz, the Brick Building Task (BBT), and the Mental Rotation Test (MRT). Gaze was measured using the Pupil Labs Neon eye tracker. Within-task analyses were conducted to assess whether gaze behaviours were preserved, and cross-task analyses were conducted to assess the generalizability of preserved gaze behaviours. Within-task analyses identified source inspection and transition rate as gaze behaviours that were consistently sensitive to changing task demands. Cross-task analyses showed that source fixation duration was a domain-general predictor of performance, whereas the relationship between transition rate and performance differed by task. Exploratory sex-separated analyses also suggested a more consistent gaze-performance relationship in males. These findings show that source fixation duration may represent a common cognitive process underlying performance across naturalistic spatial tasks.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Lethbridge"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Z. Wu"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. E. Aguilar Ramirez"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. L. R. Gonzalez"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/53nsesxqgp4t5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.22.753562",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753562v1.full",
  "id": "53nsesxqgp4t5",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753562v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2203|Spatial Cognition and Navigation"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214614405",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753562v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-22",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/53nsesxqgp4t5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:56Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.22.753562",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753562v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Looking Across Tasks: Domain-General and Task-Specific Gaze Behaviours in Spatial Cognition",
  "title_text": "Looking Across Tasks: Domain-General and Task-Specific Gaze Behaviours in Spatial Cognition",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:24:56Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/53nsesxqgp4t5",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}